God at work in Hungary

by | Feb 28, 2014 | Letters to Epaphras

Danube and Parliament Building in Budapest
Dear Epaphras,

Greetings from the “Paris” of Eastern Europe! History in this part of Europe is counted in millennia rather than decades or centuries. Some of the more important dates in Hungarian history are:

  • 896 A.D. – The Hungarian tribes, under the leadership of Árpád, settled the Carpathian Basin after driving out some of the inhabitants
  • 1000 A.D. – King Stephen of the Árpád dynasty converted to Christianity. After his death, he was canonized
  • 1873 – Pest, Buda and Obuda were unified, and the city of Budapest was born
  • 1944 – The Nazi occupation of Hungary began and more than 400,000 Hungarian Jews were sent to death camps in Poland and Germany
  • 1945 – The Soviet Army liberated, then occupied Hungary.  Citizens were resettled by force, imprisoned, even executed under communism.  Friends and family were turned into informants.  Trust vanished from the country
  • 1990 – The Communist party voluntarily gave up its autocracy. A multiparty parliamentary democracy was formed and the Soviet army left Hungary
  • 2004 – Hungary joins the European Union

Fascism and Communism brought many dark days to Hungary.  While social and political freedom have been around for over 20 years, spiritual freedom is still only a reality for about 2% of Hungarians.

Our family was able to visit two of our PIONEERS church planting teams this week.  It was a privilege to sit with young Hungarian believers passionate about Jesus and on fire to reach their unreached cities and neighborhoods with the Gospel – a gospel communism tried for decades to destroy.

Area Leader Cathy Thompson and two Hungarian church elders in Veces, Hungary

Our team planted a church in Veces 4 years ago.  They started with a team of 6 and now there are over 60 believers.  The English camp you prayed for over the summer has been used by the Lord to lead many Hungarians to faith in Jesus.  We met several of these new believers on Sunday.  The church in Veces is now planting a church in an adjacent city of 80,000 people with absolutely no Gospel presence.  They are prayer walking there daily, asking the Lord for open doors for the Gospel.

We also visited the town of Petofibanya.  Under communism, all Christian presence was forbidden in this city, as it was considered a “model” communist town.  Sadly, model communism led to extreme poverty, hopelessness, mental illness and a high suicide rate.  Our team planted a church there 7 years ago.  It was a privilege to worship with several of these new believers.  The church is asking the Lord to open doors for the Gospel to the Roma populations nearby (the Roma are modern day Samaritan like people.  They are mostly nomadic, considered thieves and mostly despised by local populations throughout Europe).  There is a spiritual hunger growing among the Roma and our team in Petrofybanja has started two discovery bible studies among them in this past year.

church_in_Petőfibánya_Hungary

Lastly, we would ask you to thank the Lord for our Area Leader Cathy Thompson (pictured above) who overseas these teams as well as teams in Germany, Bulgaria and Romania. Cathy has been faithfully serving in this part of the world for more than 20 years.  As a single/female missions leader she has done a fabulous job at empowering leaders.  Pray for Cathy as she is struggling with low financial support and health problems.

Next week our 7 European Area leaders will be gathering here in Budapest for 3 solid days of meetings.  We will seek the Lord’s heart for church planting in Europe and cry out to Him for our teams and their ministries.

Blessings in Jesus,

Steve